Wednesday, 26 September 2012

The Basics of Installing an Underground Irrigation System

By Keith Klamer


In a depressed residential real estate market, property owners need every tool they can get when it comes time to sell their properties. A great way to add to the value of their home is an underground irrigation system. A competently-installed underground irrigation system will not only keep your real estate looking great, it will also help you cut down on water usage. All of which means more money in your account because of a lower water bill, and more cash upon resale.

If you're frugal, you can always try to do the job yourself. It will almost certainly take longer, and you'll have to do some thinking before you set out, but an irrigation supply distributor can help you with the process. Once you've finished your research, you'll need to come up with a project blueprint. Your irrigation supply company will devise a plan for you that is suitable for the St. Louis area, and even your particular yard.

Many irrigation supply companies will give you a complimentary grid planner which you can use to plot the location of your house, plants and other landmarks. After marking it, you can take it back to the distributor who will then identify the best locations for your underground pop-up sprinklers, water supply lines and other parts of your underground irrigation system.

The distributor will then advise you on how to check your home's water pressure, which needs to be 60 psi(pounds per square inch) and about 10-13 gpm (gallons per minute) water flow to operate an underground system.

Finally, they will provide a comprehensive list of hardware necessary for the successful installation of your system.

Note: before you rent the trencher, ask yourself a few basic questions:

* Do I really have the time and money to take on this project? Depending on the area of your yard, it could take anywhere from several days to a several weeks of hard labor to finish your own system. If the answer is no, call a professional contracting company.

* Have I purchased enough hardware for the job?

* Have I contacted all the utilities in the St. Louis metro area to discover where their buried lines are laid before I start trenching?

After all, you don't want to make a serious error trying to put in an underground irrigation system yourself, only to be forced to hire a contractor later to get you out of a jam!




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